[ad_1]
September was the month in which the most British visited Portugal in 2019. There were more than 262 thousand, many of whom slept in the Algarve. Tourism did not expect to repeat the feat, but it was counting on these travelers to alleviate the effects of the pandemic on their accounts and the month in which golfers begin to arrive could save something from this summer of 2020. The bucket of cold water arrived yesterday, with Portugal returning to the UK blacklist less than a month after the opening of the air corridor, which since August 20 has skyrocketed bookings.
“This represents a deep disappointment. It is unfortunate at all levels. Someone is not doing their homework well. And they did not know how to safeguard the position of the Algarve in relation to what is happening in the rest of the country, since the region has practically been out of the pandemic since the beginning of March ”, said Elidérico Viegas, president of the Association of Hotels and Tourist Companies of the Algarve (AHETA), to DN / Dinheiro Vivo.
“The Algarve is still penalized by the situation in the rest of the country. And this causes enormous losses not only in the business sector but in the entire economy, ”he says.
An opinion that is not far from the reaction of the President of the Republic, who yesterday regretted that “the Algarve is being unfairly punished with this decision by the United Kingdom”. Even so, and like the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva, Marcelo -who is going to meet with the country’s hoteliers in the coming days- preferred to look at the half-full half of the glass: “Fortunately, the Azores and Madeira are were left out of this. ” decision. Now we have to look forward. ”
“Portugal will continue to send all the information on the evolution of the epidemiological situation in the spirit of total transparency that characterizes our dialogue with the United Kingdom,” added the MNE in reaction to the London decision.
The restriction, which takes effect from this Saturday, applies only to mainland Portugal. London thus follows the steps already taken by both Scotland and Wales, which already force those arriving from Portugal to serve a 14-day quarantine. It is a decision that has a significant impact on British demand, especially in mid-September, the month with the highest demand for these tourists in the region, the month in which the high golf season begins again and which dictates a new demand for visits to the region, such as nature tourism ”, reacts the president of the Algarve Tourism Region, João Fernandes. However, he acknowledges that, “given the evolution of the number of new cases per hundred thousand inhabitants, it was an announcement that we unfortunately already expected.”
Along the same lines, the president of Turismo do Porto e Norte, Luís Pedro Martins, reacted considering the news “expected”, but “bad” for Portuguese tourism.
Cash cancellations
In September of last year, the south of the country had more than 2.5 million tourists, most of them British. In the total for the year, Portugal received 27 million guests and registered 69.9 million overnight stays. The pandemic brought unprecedented outbreaks, leaving the sector practically frozen. And the hope of some recovery, with a increase of bookings when the British corridor opened – TAP increased bookings by 300% in one day, in the Algarve they soared more than 50% in the first week – it seems to have been lost now.
The Boris Johnson government’s decision will result in cancellations at tourist accommodation units in the region and consequently losses. Numbers that, however, cannot yet be calculated. “It is premature to have impact measurements in relation to previous periods because it is a different reality than what we recognize as standard”, explains João Fernandes.
Although there was a peak in reserves when Portugal was included in the air corridor, the official also points out that these weeks have been marked by some uncertainty. “Because they occur in very short cycles, the weekly reviews generate uncertainty in the destinations and in the different tour operators. And, above all, in the tourists themselves, who begin to have difficulties in choosing to travel due to decisions that are reversed in very short cycles. . “
In addition to the decline in the purchasing power of many families, fears and the need for social detachment that forces them to fight the pandemic have already led many not to travel. Therefore, it is not surprising that the tourism sector is one of the most affected by the pandemic, and that all regions suffer the effects.
Ana Laranjeiro is a journalist for Dinheiro Vivo
